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Show o U. S. Tells Attempts to Sell Allied 'Ghost' Arms WASHINGTON. In a tale of "sheer fantasy," the state department depart-ment reported that a group of American Amer-ican traders had been trying for three years to sell some Allied nations na-tions a million army rifles which do not exist and a billion rounds of .30-caliber .30-caliber ammunition, also imaginary. The information came out in the official department of state bulletin bulle-tin in an. article by James M. Ludlow, Lud-low, an official of the department's munitions control unit. None of the "promoters," as Mr. Ludlow calls the peddlers of the ghost guns, is named. And none has ever succeeded in actally making a sale. The state and justice departments depart-ments have tried vainly, it was said, to have the activities stopped. Here, says Ludlow's account, is what happened: After the war started in Europe the war department said that it had a "quantity of rifles" to sell to friendly governments for approximately approxi-mately $12.50 a gun. "One of the persons who saw the letter apparently decided that by finding a purchaser for the government govern-ment he could earn some easy mon- Meanwhife, the war department shipped the rifles off to Britain to arm the country after Dunkerque. |
